AG certifies wording on gay marriage proposal LITTLE ROCK (AP) — Attorney General Dustin McDaniel has approved the wording of a proposal aimed at repealing Arkansas’ constitutional ban on gay marriage. McDaniel certified the proposed Repeal of the Arkansas Marriage Amendment on Thursday. The proposal from Christina Harrison with Arkansans for Equality would repeal a constitutional amendment that prohibits same-sex marriage in the state. The measure would not legalize gay marriage in and o...

Lawmakers back cuts to food stamp programLITTLE ROCK(AP) — Arkansas’ four congressmen have voted to cut nearly $4 billion a year from the food stamp program, a 5 percent reduction to the nation’s main feeding program used by more than 1 in 7 Americans. Republican Reps. Tom Cotton, Rick Crawford, Tim Griffin and Steve Womack voted on Thursday for the legislation that would reduce the program by $40 billion during the next decade. The measure passed the House by a 217-210 vote. Republi...

Insurance exchange rates coming next weekLITTLE ROCK (AP) — Information on the cost of insurance plans offered in the Arkansas marketplace created under the federal health care law will be released a little more than a week before consumers can begin signing up, state insurance officials said Thursday. The announcement prompted the head of the House Public Health Committee to warn that lawmakers were unlikely to approve any further spending on marketing and outreach for the exchange ...

Pryor, Cotton split on government shutdown talk LITTLE ROCK (AP) — Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor on Thursday accused Republican challenger Rep. Tom Cotton's campaign of misleading Arkansas voters about whether he'd support shutting down the federal government if the GOP doesn't get its way on spending. Cotton's campaign denied he's supporting a shutdown, and said Pryor and Democrats are the ones promoting the idea. Citing a January radio interview Cotton gave where he said Republicans hav...

Political Animals Club celebrates 30th anniversary LITTLE ROCK (AP) — The Political Animals Club was started as a “little group” where people could talk about politics and public service, the Arkansas club’s founder said Wednesday at its 30th anniversary event. Gov. Mike Beebe joined other elected officials and former Govs. Jim Guy Tucker, Dale Bumpers and David Pryor for the gathering, which celebrated the organization’s beginnings in Little Rock. The club meets regularly to hear from politic...

Opossum found at courthouseASHDOWN (AP) — Officials say an unlikely culprit has been raiding snacks and knocking over flower pots at a courthouse in southwest Arkansas: an opossum nicknamed “Juror No. 13.” The Texarkana Gazette reported Wednesday officials at the Little River County Courthouse in Ashdown caught the opossum and released it into the wild. “It found a couple of holes in the courthouse floor, and we think crawled up along an electrical conduit. It looked li...

Federal gun laws didn’t block Navy Yard shooter WASHINGTON (AP) — The gunman in the mass shootings at the Washington Navy Yard, Aaron Alexis, had a history of violent outbursts, was at least twice accused of firing guns in anger and was in the early stages of treatment for serious mental problems, according to court records and U.S. law enforcement officials. But Alexis apparently managed to exploit seams in the nation’s patchwork of complicated gun laws designed to keep weapons out of the ...

Obama seeks Congress’ support for Syria plan WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State John Kerry told Congress on Tuesday that the United States will closely monitor every step of the plan for eliminating Syria’s chemical weapons while maintaining a credible military threat against Bashar Assad’s government. Meeting behind closed doors, Kerry briefed members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the chemical weapons strategy he negotiated with Russia last week in Geneva. One of Kerry’...

Navy Yard gunman told police he was hearing voices WASHINGTON (AP) — A month before he went on the shooting rampage that killed 12 people, Washington Navy Yard gunman Aaron Alexis complained to police in Rhode Island that people were talking to him through the walls and ceilings of his hotel rooms and sending microwave vibrations into his body to deprive him of sleep. The account, contained in an Aug. 7 report from Newport, R.I., police, adds to the picture that has emerged of an agitated and ...

McDaniel, wife purchase limousine service LITTLE ROCK (AP) — Attorney General Dustin McDaniel says he and his wife have purchased a Little Rock limousine service. McDaniel told Arkansas Business he and his wife, Bobbi, purchased Argenta Limo LLC and its assets from David Bratton. McDaniel says terms of the deal are confidential. McDaniel, who is term-limited and can’t run for re-election next year, says the business will continue to be managed by its current operations manager. He say...

AG OKs wording of county officials measureLITTLE ROCK (AP) — Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel has approved the wording of a proposed constitutional amendment that would change the terms of county elected officials from two to four years. McDaniel on Monday certified the language of the proposed ballot measure submitted by David Dinwiddie of Pine Bluff. The proposal would apply to county judges, justices of the peace, sheriffs, collectors, treasurers, assessors, clerks, corone...

State OKs money for I-40 construction projectLITTLE ROCK (AP) — Arkansas highway officials have approved a bid for widening Interstate 40 between Mayflower and Maumelle north of Little Rock. The $21 million contract was awarded to the Kiewit Infrastructure South Co. of Fort Worth, Texas. The construction project will stretch from just north of Mayflower in Faulkner County to the Arkansas 365 exit near Maumelle in Pulaski County. Work will begin within the next two to four weeks and be do...

Beebe: Won’t call session without consensus LITTLE ROCK (AP) — Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe said Monday that he won’t call lawmakers back to the Capitol to address a looming rise in teachers’ health insurance rates until there is enough support to pass short-term and long-term fixes to the insurance program. Beebe told reporters that he’s talking with state officials and legislators about the options for addressing the up to 50 percent increase in premiums that 47,000 teachers will have to ...

Juvenile drug court in Craighead County to end JONESBORO (AP) — Craighead County’s juvenile drug court will be discontinued and a $1 million federal grant to the program will be returned, officials said. The court tries to help participants with drug and alcohol abuse and some mental conditions, and includes counseling and therapy. Those chosen must submit to drug tests. Officials said participants have a lower chance of recidivism. Judge Lee Fergus, who has overseen the program since its ...

Syria weapons deal averts US military move for now GENEVA (AP) — A diplomatic breakthrough Saturday on securing and destroying Syria’s chemical weapons stockpile averted the threat of U.S. military action for the moment and could swing momentum toward ending a horrific civil war. Marathon negotiations between U.S. and Russian diplomats at a Geneva hotel produced a sweeping agreement that will require one of the most ambitious arms-control efforts in history. The deal involves making an invento...

Russellville rejected as site for new vets homeRussellville’s proposal to locate a new veterans home within the city has been rejected. Cissy Rucker, director of the Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs, told the Arkansas Veterans Home Task Force on Thursday that proposed sites in Fort Smith, Russellville and Jacksonville, which the task force visited last month, did not meet federal requirements for the facility. Locations in Russellville and Jacksonville were rejected because they are...

State money for LR firm may have lacked proper OK LITTLE ROCK (AP) — The Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration said Friday that a number of payments it made to a Little Rock-based law firm may have lacked authorization required by state law. Arkansas law requires state agencies to receive the approval of the attorney general and the governor before hiring outside legal counsel. But the department said it hasn’t been able to confirm that the attorney general or governor were inform...

Women outrun men in regaining jobs since recession WASHINGTON (AP) — The slowly recovering U.S. job market has helped women rebound faster than men: They’ve now regained all the jobs they lost to the Great Recession. Men are still 2.1 million jobs short. And the gender gap is expected to persist until the job market is much healthier. To understand why, consider the kinds of jobs that are, and aren’t, being added. Lower-wage industries, like retail, education, restaurants and hotels, have been...

Council dissension on veterans home siteWhen Russellville Mayor Bill Eaton gave an update regarding a proposed veteran’s home to the City Council during an agenda preparation meeting Tuesday, some aldermen questioned the city’s methods for submitting a proposal for the project. Mayor Bill Eaton said a decision has not been made as to where a proposed $20 million veterans home facility will be located, but unofficial information from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) indicates ...

Nation pauses on 9/11 to pay tribute to victims NEW YORK (AP) — Life in lower Manhattan resembled any ordinary day on Wednesday as workers rushed to their jobs in the muggy heat, but time stood still at the World Trade Center site while families wept for loved ones who perished in the terror attacks 12 years ago. For the families, the memories of that day are still vivid, the pain still acute. Some who read the names of a beloved big brother or a cherished daughter could hardly speak throug...